Being popular on fuel duty tax increase

It's never easy preparing for a TV interview when you know that what you're going to say will have many viewers disagreeing and some probably cursing you. That was the case for me the other day as I sat on the tube on my way to talk to BBC TV about fuel prices.

It's understandable that people are concerned about fuel price rises - times are tough, the Government's cuts are starting to bite and people have to be careful with their cash. Saying that you think prices should continue to rise is never an easy sell.

But that's what's needed to help tackle climate change. We've got to persuade people to buy greener cars that use less fuel, and to use their cars less. Road transport produces about a fifth of the UK's carbon dioxide emissions, and transport is one of the real problem sectors, where emissions have been rising rather than falling. One reason for this is that the overall cost of motoring has fallen in real terms over the last 20 years. Fuel prices have risen, but when you take into account buying, servicing and insuring the car, then costs have risen by less than inflation. At the same time, bus and rail fares have risen. Rail fares rose by an average of 6.2% at the start of the month, more than double the rise in fuel prices.

The real problem with transport is that successive Governments have failed to address the problem of how we travel in the UK, and we have become ever more dependent on the car.

Protesters against fuel price rises want the Government to scrap the 1p a litre rise due in April, but don't say what they would do instead - which taxes would they put up or what services would they cut? They also call for a fuel price stabiliser. This could have some merit, but prices must continue to rise, and the stabiliser should be about smoothing out these rises and avoiding sudden price lurches.

But the real solution isn't short-term tax measures. We need a transport policy that weans us off our dependence on oil by providing efficient, reliable and affordable public transport, making it safer to cycle and walk, and encouraging people to buy greener cars that use less fuel. We also need to protect rural services - shops, schools, doctors etc - so that people don't have to travel so far to do what they need.

That's the sort of positive policy you would hope for from the self-proclaimed greenest Government ever.

I'd be overjoyed if the next time I was on BBC News it was to welcome the announcement of the transport policy we have needed for many years.